Bulldogs, Bluejays win ITCL tourneys

Staff report

HUBBARD

Another solid team effort led the East Palestine High boys golf team to an Inter Tri-County League sweep.

Wednesday at Pine Lakes Golf Course, the Bulldogs posted a 338 to win the ITCL Tier One Tournament, defeating Columbiana by five strokes.

In the ITCL Tier Two Tournament, Jackson-Milton edged Western Reserve, 349-350.

United’s Bradley Miller finished as the Tier One medalist, shooting a 78.

“He’s a good player, very steady,” East Palestine coach Bob Hall said of Miller. “He has a nice game.”

With a 75, Western Reserve’s Nolan Snyder was the Tier Two medalist.

Each team had six players. The top four scores were compiled for team scoring.

The Bulldogs were led by Ryen Kemp and Alex Dumbauld with 82 and 83, respectively. Andy Ellis and Phil Gerner followed with 86 and 87.

“We followed the formula that has been our whole season,” Hall said. “We didn’t shoot real low numbers, but we were consistent.

“We only won by five strokes, which is how a lot of our matches have been,” said Hall after the Bulldogs went 17-0 against Tier One teams (14-0 in the regular season). “Consistency has been our formula — when you have six strong players, that’s going to happen.”

Dumbauld said the Bulldogs were relaxed even though they wore targets for being unbeaten.

“Going undefeated kind of took pressure off,” Dumbauld said. “We already had done what we needed to do so we didn’t feel pressure.

“But we had a lot of fun,” Dumbauld said. “The course was in great condition.”

Nathan Garofalo led the Clippers with 83 points. Their other top golfers were Joe Lucci with 84, Bruce Wiggins with 87 and Clayton Cooper with 89.

United was third with 354. The others were Crestview (382), South Range (390), Lisbon (398), Southern (416) and Springfield (428).

Western Reserve finished 16-1 against Tier Two competitors.

Leading the Bluejays to victory were Nick Householder with 80, Chance Proverbs with 82 and Matt Johns with 92.

In addition to Snyder, the Blue Devils’ golfers were Ethan Grim (87), Alexis Cadle (87) and Sage Edwards (101).

The other teams and their scores were Lowellville (355), Leetonia (395), McDonald (404), Mineral Ridge (410), Wellsville (437) and Sebring (444).

“The course played a little longer than our league matches,” Hall said of the neutral Pine Lakes.